Christmas in September

Hi All,

Well here we are in September, I can hardly believe it's autumn already. What a lovely summer we've had this year and  I have to say it's an absolute scorcher here today. I wish the British summer was like this every year.

Now I know a lot of crafters keep the Christmas spirit going all year round - and as such are well organised with their Christmas cards and tags, but I'm afraid I'm not one of them.  However, I had to dig out my box of Christmas stamps this weekend as the new challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers is CHRISTMAS SNOW AND ICE (Your creation must include either a representation of snow or ice plus a Christmas theme in order to qualify for the Winner or Top 5 slots)

I couldn't quite face making a Christmas card so I've gone for a tag .....

This one shows the gloss and sparkle better

The sentiment is American Crafts, all other stamps are Hero Arts.  I heat embossed the larger snowflakes then inked with Stormy Sky, Mr Snowman and the holly garland are coloured with Promarkers, then I added some textured snow, stickles and some glossy accents.

Our sponsors for this challenge are Di's Digistamps and Hobby Art.






Okay, that's me for today, I'm off to prep dinner.  It's so hot today we're going to have a barbie.

Have a lovely week everyone and thanks for popping in.

Suze xx

Muscle Man

Hi all,

Here I am again with a card I made for one of my son's friends.  I have to say, I usually end up buying male cards but I had an idea for this one (he likes going to the gym) and with the colour inspiration from this week's Dynamic Duos challenge, here's the card I made ...

The muscle man was cut using my silhouette, and the SU sentiment was stamped in black onto Pool Party and clear embossed.

The kids are back to school today. It was a bit of a shock to their system getting up early and it was a bit of a shock to my system starting on tidying up the house.  There's just no point trying to keep things tidy when they're all at home - well that's my excuse!

Thanks for popping in.

Take good care
Suze xx

Holiday Time

Oh Lordy, it's been three weeks since I last posted, I really need to get my crafty bum into action!

In that time we've been on a lovely family holiday to Barcelona, it's such a beautiful city.  We rented an apartment which was only a minute's walk from Gaudi's Sagrada Familia.  The outside of the building is maybe not everyone's cup of tea but the inside is stunning.

I have to say we are truly "Gaudie'd out" after our trip but the shopping there is fabulous too.  Will definitely be a city I will return to.

Anyways, I'm here today with a card for the new Crafty Cardmakers challenge - FUN IN THE SUN -  which this time is hosted by Lin.  (Lin would like to see something relating to summer fun, so that might be holiday related, or something you might do outdoors when the sun is shining)

I used part of an image by Saturated Canary (Winnie Goes Camping) which I coloured with Promarkers then layered up with some DP and some ribbon for grass, then added some stitching for detail.  I haven't done any colouring for ages and this is the first time I've used a digi image.  I did wonder if the image would bleed when I started to colour it, but it was fine!

Our sponsors for this challenge are 

SATURATED CANARY

and SIR STAMPALOT   

I'd also like to enter the current challenge over at Addicted to CAS - which is Holiday.

Thanks for popping, I'll be back soon (no really I will!).

Take Care

Suze xx

Oriental 1, 2, 3

Happy Monday everyone,  hope you are all well!

It's time for another challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers and Elaine is our hostess.  Her challenge is 

1, 2, 3:  1 image, 2 patterned papers, 3 embellishments.

I have to say I found this challenge quite tricky as I'm not very good with embellishments or papers!!

Anyhows, after much faffing about I came up with an oriental style card ...

The Geisha stamp is by Bravura and I've used 2 oriental style papers.  My embellishments are sequin waste, a TH die cut flower and some gold twine.  (Sorry the photo is a bit glary, it's pouring of rain today and the light's very dull)

Our sponsors for this challenge are The Paper Shelter and Woodware Craft Collection.  Hope you can join in - the challenge is running for 3 weeks this time.

Thanks for popping in, see you all soon.

Suze xx

Gold

Hi All,

Well, the weather's finally broken here, what a thunderstorm we had at 5 am this morning. I do enjoy a good thunderstorm although I wasn't quite excited enough to actually get out of my bed to look out the window.  Hopefully the sun will return soon.

I made a birthday card the other day and it just to happens it fits with this week's CASology challenge which is "GOLD" and the Craft-room Challenge which is "HEAT EMBOSSING".

I used a Klimt stamp from Chocolate Baroque which I think has quite a Deco feel to it.  I stamped the image onto black card and heat embossed in gold.  I did the same with the sentiment, then mounted them onto gold miri, then matted again onto the black and gold miri card.

Well, that's me for today, short and sweet.  I'm still going to the chircopractor and getting deep tissue massages (ouch) but I'm feeling much better and I do seem to have more energy again.

Thanks for popping in, see you all soon.

Suze xx

A summery birthday card

Hi everyone, and a big hello from sunny Aberdeen. It seems we are actually going to have a 'real' summer this year and I am not going to complain that it's too hot. No, no, no I'm not, the winter's are very long here in Scotland and I am going to lap up every warm ray of sunshine!

Onto my card which is for the new challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers, hosted by Lin who has chosen a nice easy theme of BIRTHDAY.

The leaves and butterflies are cut from DP using Tim Holtz mini floral die. The doily is Stampin Up DP and the red background was cut with an SU framelit.  The butterflies are a Martha Stewart punch and the sentiment is also SU, cut with a Spellbinders fancy tag die.

Our sponsors for this challenge are Di's Digistamps and Hobby Art.

It's been such a looooong time since I was at a wedding but last Thursday my husband's niece got married at a beautiful Charles Rennie Mackintosh venue in Glasgow.  It's been a long time since I've had an occasion to 'glam up' too and although I don't really like looking at photos of myself, I do quite like this one my husband took of my gorgeous daughter and myself.  Just wanted to share (lol) - ignore the tuft of hair that's waving at you!

Okay, that's me for today, I'm away to have a little potter outside.  

Hope the sun is shining down on you too!

Take care and thanks for popping in.

Suze xx

Love Letters In The Sand

Hi all,

I'm rushing in with a last minute entry for this week's Less is More Challenge which is the theme "SAND".

It's been ages since I've played along at LIM but as soon as I saw the theme word last weekend I've been thinking of nothing but the song "Love Letters In The Sand", so instead of sitting down to make a birthday card that I really need to make, I had to get this one out of my system first!

The letters are cut from sandpaper using SU dies and I've simply layered them onto various bits of DP paper.

Thanks for popping in to take a look, I've been at the chiropractor this week for a sore back and it gets a bit twingy if I sit for very long, so I'm away to lie down and watch Andy Murray play so I hope I don't put my back out again jumping up from the sofa!

Have a great weekend.

Suze xx